Rabble
Originally uploaded by jorel845.
“if kids in Soda is bugging you now … well. wait a few weeks. when they open up the patio, the joint is kid central til 9 p.m. almost every single day. it doesn’t bother me at all, though. as others have said in this post and the countless others on this board, Soda isn’t an upscale, fancy restaurant, nor is it a busted-ass, broke-down drunkard bar. it’s a neighborhood pub. and, thankfully, that allows it to have an eclectic clientele.” – alafairnadia in the Prospect Heights Message Boards
From what one Daily Heights regular reports: the complaint was specifically in response to a gathering that took place on the same night as a recent DH happy hour… though it was only indirectly related to a DH happy hour. We haven’t seen the letter yet, but it apparently contains some wild and somewhat humorous inaccuracies about what took place that night.
The opinions of this irate customer aside, the facts are as follows:
Toly absolutely encourages parents to bring kids to SODA…
The waitstaff is almost universally accommodating to kids…
They have lots of kid-friendly food …
The kids are generally out of there no later than 8 or 9 pm, latest…
The kids are being supervised, even if they seem to be running amok through the back room …
And in fact, “Music for Aardvarks” holds kids music classes at SODA at least 3 times a week.
So unquestionably, SODA is a kid-friendly bar.
Whoa… “kid-friendly bar”? The concept is certainly going to be quite confusing (and offensive) to Marge in Wisconsin… but kid-friendly bars are here, and you’re going to have to get used to them. Families want to hang out together. European countries have a long tradition (see Germany: Beer Gardens) of establishments where both kids and parents alike can hang out and socialize, and yes, alcohol may be served.
COMMENTS Abound: Prospect Heights Message Boards
Why not encourage families to hang out together? I think it’s a great idea that a family-friendly pub encourages this type of interaction. And while I can TOTALLY understand NOT wanting to go to a bar/pub with kids running around, there are certainly plenty of those types of places if you need to get away. And isn’t it better to have your kids underfoot where you at least know what they’re doing and who they’re hanging out with than not?
Why not encourage families to hang out together? I think it’s a great idea that a family-friendly pub encourages this type of interaction. And while I can TOTALLY understand NOT wanting to go to a bar/pub with kids running around, there are certainly plenty of those types of places if you need to get away. And isn’t it better to have your kids underfoot where you at least know what they’re doing and who they’re hanging out with than not?
Actually in the Great State of WISCONSIN a parent can bring their children into a bar a legally purcahse booze for them!
Im one of the longest patrons of Soda and I hate it. Parents acting all stupid and getting all drunk with thier kids should do this in the privacy and safety of their own home. They should leave their kids at home and get a babysitter. I hate to A: Watch what Im saying. B: Watch where I walk in fear of stepping on someone. C: Talk about babies, kids, schools (unless it’s a real conversation-not awe how cute, bla bla bla). D: Feel bad for kids falling asleep when I wan’t to hear music and have a good time. E: See parents totally neglect their kids when they are getting blotto. F: Showing children how not to act.
Dont get me wrong I love kids, they just do not belong around drunk and high people and listening to foul mouthed music. Have a beer or some wine at home, or go to the coffee shops… you people already own them. That is a better idea.
an reply to rob who posted 4/6 at 12.59PM
i’m one of the most recent patrons of soda, and i can’t stand all these people without kids in the place. They should stay at home and make some kids of their own or at least borrow someone elses. I hate to A: watch what i’m saying B: watch where i walk – having to skirt round the drunk, childless saddies. C: Talk about music, drugs, sex, oh unless it’s a real conversation not just hey look at me i’m such an intolerant loser. D: feel bad when they slump face down on the bar in a pool of self indulgence, E: see groups of childfree people getting blotto, making out with each other’s girlfriends, peeing in the street, being loud and obnoxious at the bar. F: showing everyone exactly what this sort of childfree nonsense does to people.
Don’t get me wrong! I LOVE people without kids – it just seems that they are unable to hang out with the rest of the world.
Sweetheart, you live in a teeming metropolis, it is no longer 1950, and the only way society works is through TOLERANCE.
If you don’t want to come into contact with anyone who is not a cloned version of yourself – get some beer or wine and drink it at home on your own. Now THAT is a better idea.
I have been tolerating it… I just don’t like it… Tolorate my and the majorities opinion. Don’t hate.
I just think we shouldnt bring our kids to places where people exclusively go to get high and drunk.
i am wondering what’s going on with kids in bars lately, too. i work in a bar/restaurant and we have live music there often. lots of parents bring in their children, which would be fine except that they do not tell them to stay in their seats. i blame the parents, not the kids. it makes my job about a thousand times harder when there is a child running around while i’m trying to carry a tray of drinks. they also break things, and after they leave, the place is trashed. i have had people ask me to close the door to our garden because they don’t want their children breathing in smoke from cigarettes outside. they forget that it’s still a bar. i don’t have children, but i’m not sure i’d want them spending time in bars.
It’s up to the bars how they want to handle themselves, but a reasonable solution might be a “kid curfew”. I’m about to have a baby, but wouldn’t expect to be able to bring my kid to Soda after 8pm. And, if you’re trashed by 8pm you should be sent home too.
So, if there were a curfew, say 8ish, that gives parents an opportunity to come and sit outside for a kid friendly dinner or a glass of wine, it might be a solution. This would allow waitstaff not to have to trip over kids and drunks at the same time or during the most busy hours and would allow drunkards to trash themselves without having to worry how they look to kids.